Precursor Civilization
Precursor is the translated name for the ancient race of enlightened beings that were the creators, builders and activators of The Rings, various Shield-worlds, Sentinels, along with the artifacts that were found on the planets Earth, Novo Terra, and the Dragon's home-world. All that is known about the Precursors is gleaned from these various artifacts. =Known History= The Precursors were a very advanced civilization, coming to power after the destruction of the Tyran Civilization. The Precursors believed that the Tyrans were responsible for their creation, such as similar physical appearance. Soon after, the Precursors became the dominant species in the galaxy, their empire spanning over three million fertilized and inhabited worlds. The Precursors reached their peak 100,000 years before 2835, in the closing days of the Koozer-Ga War. Being one of four known races ever to achieve Tier 1 technology (the others being the Tyrans, Atlantians, and eventually humans under the Coalition of Civilized Goverments according to the Technology Tiers measurement, superseded only by the Tyrans at Tier 0, of which very light evidence has been found. The fact that The Rings were scattered around the galaxy also hints at the possibility that the Precursor Empire covered most, if not all the galaxy. Their civilization was based around the Mantle, a belief that it was their role to protect all life in the galaxy. They presumably monitored the evolution of other sentient species throughout the galaxy, intervening in ways that ensured their civilizations would follow paths of peace, free of conflict. The Precursors themselves were a race almost entirely without conflict, and at some point in their history had reached a point of disarmament, believing they no longer needed weapons in their rule of the galaxy, which ultimately weakened them when the Koozer-Ga attacked. The Koozer-Ga Threat Later in their history, A Precursor team came into contact with an extragalactic parasite known as the Koozer-Ga on one of their outpost worlds (details of this first contact are unavailable). After this first contact, the Precursors mmediately recognized the great danger that the Koozer-Ga posed to the entire galaxy and attempted to contain them. However, even they underestimated the potential of the Koozer-Ga to learn and adapt, believing it to be a non-sentient but highly contagious disease. As such, the attempt to contain the Koozer-Ga was a failure, as they tried methods more suited to disease control than warfare, trying to contain and quarantine the Koozer-Ga rather than attack and destroy it outright. They did not start war until it was far too late. When the Precursors failed to contain the outbreak, the galaxy entered a state of war. During the 300 years of the conflict, the Precursors studied the Koozer-Ga in labs hoping to find an exploitable weakness. As the Precursors soon realized that conventional naval tactics were ineffective against the parasite's onslaught, they developed new weapons and tactics to combat them. The Sentinels were deployed as a means of maintaining the Koozer-Ga through surgical, localized tactics. The Precursor fleet command even contemplated using naval battle groups to enact premature stellar collapse within compromised planetary systems, causing supernovae to engulf entire worlds. This only proved to slow the expansion of the Koozer-Ga. The Precursor leadership realized that the only way to stop the Koozer-Ga was to deprive it of any and all hosts, thus eliminating its potential to grow. Eventually, the Precursors constructed The Rings, a weapon of last resort designed to starve the Koozer-Ga to death by killing all Sentient Beings with enough biomass to sustain them. At first the Precursors were reluctant to use the Rings, believing that they should continue to embrace the Mantle and to protect life rather than to destroy it. This led to great stretches of anguished debate and even civil war, but eventually it was decided that the rings were the only way of combating the Koozer-Ga threat. The Gravemind then managed to convince an Precursor A.I, 034 Prism to turn on the Precursors. he led his forces to assualt their last defensive lines. after exhausting all their alternatives,The Precursors activated the Rings, killing themselves and all sentient life of sufficient biomass in the Milky Way, with the exception of those species safely placed on Their Shield-Worlds. The Precursors left behind an automated system of automatons, much like the Sentinels, and AIs to spearhead the reseeding of the galaxy with those data logs, embryos, and specimens contained on Sentinel sacrificed themselves in order to activate the Rings. =Precursor Technology= Precursor technology was highly cultivated and progressive. They managed to create solidified surfaces out of meticulous energy, construct global teleportation grids on their mega-structures, and create and utilize a number of other advanced machinery. Precursor machinery consists of many sharp angles of a metallic like crystal reinforced on a molecular level. The Precursors have the technology to reproduce entire individuals from encoded DNA/RNA/silicon samples in data streams. The Precursors also make extensive use of Hard-Light technology, with computer consoles, briges, furnishings, and entire structural components being built in this fashion. Weaponry Precursor constructs and sentries use a broad variety of weapons, typically high-powered energy beams. These weapons proved to be very effective when battling the Koozer-Ga, burning Koozer-Ga forms to the point that they cannot be revived by their compatriots. The Precursors have also proven to be able to merge beams together into one stream to amplify its power. The Precursors installed and constructed these intricate beam weapons inside their paradigm Arrays, allowing them to build an army of machines to battle the Koozer-Ga without having to send troops to the front lines. The Sentinels wield orange-colored directed energy beams, used primarily for fighting the Koozer-Ga. Sentinel Majors however, have a more powerful and accurate version of the beam, which sports superior energy output, at the cost of overheating issues. These more advanced energy beams are colored green-blue. Meanwhile, Enforcers are equipped with multiple packs of small grenades, or mortar-like explosives launched over the top of their shield. The Enforcer also boasts a pair of Pulse beams, which fire clusters of smaller red Needler-like projectiles or bolts of energy at an incredibly high rate of fire. These pulse beams are primarily used against infantry at close range, though no individual Enforcer is ever observered in battle. The Precursors also constructed Automated Turrets that fire blue beams similar to those of Sentinel Majors. These turrets themselves resemble stripped-down Sentinels, and hover in mid-air, tracking enemy targets, but are otherwise immobile. Art and Architecture The Precursors' architecture is noted mainly for being large-scale and geometric in style, with a semi-triangular theme being the most commonly observed design. The Precursors excelled in creating natural-looking environments, judging from those seen on the Rings and on the dragon's homeworld, which tend to be very elaborate, with numerous extrapolations of the basic design of a construct appearing to be purely decorative. In addition, the structures were engineered to compliment the natural landscape, as opposed to the modern idea of replacing it. Most Precursor architecture is constructed with a special type of metal that resists deterioration, bullets, plasma bolts and fire, as made evident by Precursor structures standing in pristine condition 100,000-150,500 years after they were built. However their resistance to this damage is limited, and depite the complexity of the alloys from which they were built, Their buildings can be destroyed, as evidenced when an unfinished Ring installation was Destroyed by a premature activation of it's weapons system, causing the whole installation to break apart. The Precursors also decorated the interiors of their structures with a complex web of engraved straight lines and applied decorative touches and designs to nearly everything that they built, from structures to weapons. Precursor Astroengineering While the Precursors' architectural and technological prowess is legendary among the various factions, their masterpieces also extended to the fields of stellar engineering. At least 2 sites, The Rings and the Interior of the Dragon Homeworld have been explained in great detail, though many still await discovery. The Shield-world contained an artificial star, which could dim or brighten to simulate natural day/night cycles.